Four of us got together and matched off once each against all the other players. A match consists of three passes with the aim to hit or if possible unhorse your opponent. Here are our four protagonists, plucked from our Warhammer Fantasy armies:
Sir Bacon of Sandwich matched against Sir Croc of Dundee and...
... Sir Redback of Dunnyseat matched against Sir Groovy of Ghoulies.
Alan's rules have a nice elegance about them and seem very well balanced, giving a good Hollywood feel without sacrificing playability. They certainly play fast once you know what you are doing and we finished in under two hours.
As you progress towards your opponent you attempt to increase your three stats of Balance, Aim and Force, focusing on your preferred stat but trying to put enough increase into the other two to ensure that you a) strike your opponent and b) break your lance or even unhorse them when you do hit.
Sir Bacon of Sandwich (my guy) won the field on the day, unhorsing his opponent in all three matches, although we has himself unceremoniously dumped on his ass in the third match too!
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| Yep, that's a bacon-flavoured triple snake-eyes. Woot! |
In summary Atteint! are a great little set, perfect for beer and pretzels gaming on a wet Friday night. Overall there is very little wrong with the rules that we could see. They could possibly do with a little re-work to make them a little clearer in intent in places I guess e.g. can you increase a stat multiple times in a turn?
Here's a few other suggestions for you Alan...
- With no customisation of your knight each protagonist feels a bit samey-samey. Perhaps adding a half-dozen low-impact "characteristics" that each player can choose one of to give each knight a little variety?
- Consider limiting the number of Favours as at one point we had 3 or 4 backed up. We did assume unused ones carried over from pass to pass (but not match to match).
- One thing we thought would be a cool tweak is to add +1 to Force if your knight moves 2 spaces on the turn they meet.
Thanks for these Alan, we had a blast and will definitely play them again!
Cheers,
Millsy
Thanks for giving the rules a try and especially for the feedback.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct; you can add multiple points to a given characteristic in a turn. To answer your comments in order:
(i) I had considered customisation and skills but thought I'd post the set and add that later. It needs to be considered carefully, though, as the game may not e granular enough to take too much.
(ii) I do have concerns about the balance of Favours. Certainly I'd not have them carry over from match to match. I'd not really come across people stacking up more than two though. Shifting your focus seems important, and is usually the main thing you spend a double on, and I wouldn't dismiss catching the marshal's eye, since it can put a fair bit of pressure on your opponent (you only have to play for a draw in order to win the match).
(iii) I am still considering whether to grant any kind of bonus to the Knight that initiates combat, and your idea is interesting.
I was amazed that you got three unhorsings though - were people not paying much attention to their Balance?
I think it was more that I paid less attention to my Balance and focused on Aim and Force. You are no worse off in terms of hitting if you fail your balance, but a higher Aim ensures you hit more often and a higher Force increases the severity of the hit as you'd know. I regularly got my Aim and/or Force to the maximum of 5.
DeleteThanks. I am wondering if Balance is worth adding points to. Being able to reduce your opponent's scores is useful (and the Aim reroll certainly is), though. I might have to consider whether it's useful enough. Obviously its role in ensuring your not unhorsed helps a bit ;)
DeleteVery cool sounding rules, Millsy. And thank you very much Alan for your generosity in sharing these rules. I may give them a try someday.
ReplyDeleteLooks like great fun Millsy!
ReplyDeleteSir Redback of Dunnyseat gets my vote!
ReplyDelete; )